Love is Blind
by TH Ichirin
Summary: Her entire life, Ruby Rose was a bubbly, childish girl who loved weapons more than anything. However, an accident from years ago left the girl blind and scarred, both physically and mentally. Her sister places the blame on herself, and leaves things awkward between them as they enter Beacon together...will new friends bring back the suppressed child? Blind!Ruby, Pairing undecided.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. Also, I am not the best writer. You may notice some tense slips, or some typos, or whatever. Please let me know, and I'll try to fix them as soon as possible. I also apologize for the amount of separate paragraphs. Lots of dialogue and my own paranoia with making them too long.

* * *

Roman Torchwick and his group of borrowed cronies made their way through the darkened streets of Vale. The crook and his men stopped in front of the shop From Dust Till Dawn, glancing around and making sure there weren't many people around. After that, Roman led the black-suited men into the shop, casually smoking his cigar and taking a look around the store.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a Dust shop open this late?" The orange-haired man spoke up, addressing the old man behind the counter. As he spoke, one of the henchmen brought a pistol up, pointed directly at the shopkeeper.

"Please! Just take my Lien and leave." Roman shushes the man, as if to calm him.

"Calm down, we're not here for your money," Torchwick said, before his voice harded and he addressed his men. "Grab the Dust." At his words, the other men spread out throughout the shop, starting to steal the Dust and making sure there was no one around. However, one of them noticed a short figure in the back, a small hand touching over magazine titles.

"Alright kid, put your hands where I can see 'em." He took out a sword and approached the girl. However, she doesn't react, her hand still casually touching the magazines as if nothing was wrong. "Hey, I said hands in the air! You got a death wish or somethin'?" He went up to the shorter person and put a hand on their shoulder, grabbing it along with their attention. The figure's hood gets pulled down, revealing a young girl with headphones on.

"Eh?" The girl let out a small noise of confusion as she got turned around, staring up at the man with listless, glazed-over eyes of silver, strange, faded scars everywhere. For some reason, they made the man uncomfortable despite the much more concerning things he's seen and done. Regardless, he pointed at his ear with a grimace, signaling the black-haired girl to take off the headphones.

Doing so, she tilted her her head and innocently asked, "Yes?"

"I said, put your hands in the air. Now!" The man was getting disgruntled at that point, his voice raised in annoyance.

"Are you...robbing me?"

"Yes!" He shouted, growing angry at the girl.

"Ahh." The much younger one said, as if realizing the situation. Back with Torchwick, he was examining one of the red crystals in boredom when one of his men flew past him, crashing into some merchandise. Unconcerned, he nodded his head in the direction he came from and sent another henchman to check it out. Moments later, him and another person flew through the store and crashed into the window, breaking it and sending them outside. The group of criminals all poked their head out, getting a good look through the broken glass at their assailant.

Seeing a young girl, weapon folding out into a scythe larger than her, Roman addressed the rest of his men. "Okay..." glancing to the men on either side of him, he finished, in an exasperated tone, "get her!" At once, the other criminals ran through the door and attacked the girl, a little confused as to why her eyes were closed. As the first man came close, the girl suddenly spun in place, using her scythe, and kicked him away, simultaneously pulling her scythe out of the ground and readying it.

A shot rang out, and the girl spun once more, the power of the shot from her scythe propelling her and allowing her to use her weapon to knock another crony up and out of the way. At the end of the swing, she twisted her body and position her scythe to hammer down on another unfortunate man in black, sending him to the ground quite painfully. And, with quick reflexes, she was able to immediately dodge the bullets sprayed at her from a remaining henchman, eyes still closed as she ran circles around him, kicked him into the air, and finished him off by slamming her weapon into his midsection, ramming him into the ground in front of Roman.

"You were worth every cent, truly you were," the orange-haired criminal muttered. "Well, Red, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening!" Torchwick said, dropping his cigar and snuffing it out on the ground with his cane. "And as much as I'd like to stick around..." he pulled up his cane, a sight popping up, aimed at the girl. "This is where we part ways." With a loud, flaring noise, a firey projectile shot out at the girl in red, exploding violently as it hit the ground instead of her, as she jumped into the air at the last second. As soon as she landed, there was no hesitation as she jumped up onto the roof Roman was escaping to, rose petals left in her wake.

As he jumped up the last few rungs, Torchwick noticed the girl already on the rooftop. "What the- Tch, persistent..." Cornered, the man fired off another explosive round at the girl, making her dodge off to the side. However, that bought him enough time to run to the other edge of the rooftop, a bullhead rising up and allowing him to hop on. Turning around in the bullhead, seeing a ruffled and frowning girl, he held up the red crystal he was inspecting in the shop and shouted at her. "End of the line, Red!" And, with that, he threw the crystal down at her feet and shot it, making an even larger explosion ring out on the rooftop.

Roman let out a lough, gleeful cheer at the sight, but was quickly silence when the smoke cleared and saw another woman with Red, both completely unharmed. The other woman pushed up her glasses before swinging her arm, and the riding crop she was holding, at the bullhead, purple projectiles weaving in the air and rocking the bullhead as they hit. Roman, stumbling from the rocking, made his way to the cockpit. Shortly after, a woman in a dress took his place at the cargo area, fighting with the well-dressed blonde. The girl in red stood by, unsure of what to do with all the energy flaring around. Her uneasiness was soon assured, as she found herself flung away from an explosion by the blonde woman, and heard the bullhead distancing itself from them.

As things calmed down, the two left on the rooftop found themselves staring at each other wordlessly.

* * *

"I hope you realize that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly young lady." The blonde huntress was already prepared for a long tirade from the sound of it, pacing around the small room as she spoke to the hooded girl from earlier. "You put yourself and others in great danger."

The hooded girl grumbled slightly, "They started it..." The woman kept her pacing, ignoring the younger girl's words.

"If it were up to me, you'd be sent home," the tall blonde started, "with a pat on the back...and a slap on the wrist!" She punctuated her final statement with a loud slap of her riding crop on the table the younger girl was sitting at, causing her to jump in her chair, startled. "But...there's someone here who would like to meet you." With those words, the blonde stepped off to the side, a gray-haired man walking into the room with a plate and a cup.

"Ruby Rose," the man said, leaning closer to the girl and examining her eyes. "You have...been through a lot." Straightening his posture, the man resumed speaking as the blonde behind him played the fight with Torchwick's men over. "So! Where did you learn to do this?"

The now named Ruby was slightly hesitant, but answered him nonetheless. "Signal Academy...?"

Sounding skeptical, the man responded, "They taught you how to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?"

"Well, one teacher in particular."

"I see..." he said, placing the plate down, cookies stacked on top of each other aimlessly. With a bit of hesitation, Ruby reached out slowly and took one, taking a bite to make sure it was alright. After that, she quickly finished it and started to eat the rest of them at the same pace, feeling quite hungry at that time. "It's just that...I've only seen one other scythe user of that skill before. A dusty old crow..."

The girl seemed to perk up slightly at that. "Oh, that's my uncle Qrow. He's a teacher at Signal. He took me under his wing, and helped me out with a lot of my problems." She didn't specify what problems she had, but her tone made it sound like it was more than just weapon problems.

"I see. And what is an adorable girl such as yourself doing at a school designed to train warriors?" The man set down his cup, coffee it seemed, and put his hands on the table, leaning forward a bit once more.

"Well," she started, hesitation holding her back again. "I want to be a huntress."

"You want to slay monsters." The way he said it made it sound like a statement, rather than a question.

"Something to that effect..." she muttered, before speaking up a bit more. "I only have two more years of training left at Signal, and then I'm going to apply to Beacon. My sister is starting there this year, and I want to help people. My sister as well." The wording was a bit awkward, as if she changed what she was going to say halfway through, but it got the point across.

After a moment of silence, the man spoke up again. "Do you know who I am?"

"Professor Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon," she stated. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Ozpin chuckled lightly. "Hello. So, you want to come to my school?"

Leaning forward a bit, the girl nodded slightly. "More than anything, sir." Respect was in her voice, and it was stated factually, rather than pleadingly. Ozpin and the blonde shared a look, with the blonde rolling her eyes before looking away, making the gray-haired headmaster smirk ever so slightly.

"Well, okay." Anticlimactic, spoken quite casually. His words took her a moment to register, but Ruby ended up with a seemingly uncharacteristic, wide grin after processing that.

* * *

"I still can't believe my little sister is coming to Beacon with me! I'm so proud of you!" Blonde hair and a loud voice greeted Ruby as the airship began it's flight to Beacon.

Unperturbed, Ruby responded with "It was nothing, Yang."

"Are you kidding? It's incredible! Everyone at Beacon is going to think you're the bee's knees!"

If she didn't have her hood up, hiding her face, Yang might have backed off at the dirty glance sent her way. "I don't want to be the bee's knees. I just want to keep to myself...and have normal knees."

"What, aren't you excited?" Unable to read the mood as usual, the elder sister kept on talking, seemingly oblivious to her sister's mood.

"Of course I'm excited. But I got moved ahead two years, not to mention my other issues. I don't want people to think I'm special or treat me differently."

Yang's little pep talk quickly deflated, and she looked away, posture shrinking in on itself. "Right...I understand, I guess..." The short silence, in which Ruby struggled not to fall into the same old argument with her sister, was quickly broken by the sounds the blonde woman, introduced as Glynda Goodwitch, welcoming them to Beacon.

Yang looked out the window, gasps coming from students all around them as they approached Beacon. "Hey, there's Signal, down there!"

Ruby allowed herself a wry smile and she grabbed her sister's hand to gently squeeze it, feeling the blonde's haze on her. The touching moment was quickly ruined by the sounds of a boy retching. "I guess the view's not for everyone," Yang said with annoyance. Ruby's nose wrinkled up at the smell as the airship lowered down to allow them to exit.

The boy who vomited was the first to rush out, finding a trashcan to empty the rest of his stomach while the rest of the new students got off, ignoring or ridiculing him as they passed. The two sisters passed by without a glance, instead taking in the school grounds in their own ways. Yang had her arms behind her head, grinning as she looked all around and examined every detail she could. Ruby, on the other hand, just stared straight ahead, content with listening to all the other students wander around.

After a few moments, Ruby heard a small group approach them and her sister seemed sheepish as she spoke up. "Sis, my friends are here. Will you be alright by yourself?" Suppressing a sigh, the shorter girl nodded and waved Yang off.

"You know I'll be fine, Yang. Go." With one last concerned glance at Ruby, the elder sister took off with her friends to explore the grounds. Finally releasing the sigh she was holding, the girl in red double checked her gear, including the weapon on her back, before stepping forward to head out.

And promptly tripped on a cart with multiple suitcases on it, crashing onto the ground and knocking a few of the cases off. Having been distracted by her sister and her own self-consciousness, the short girl never even realized what was around her, used to people keeping their distance from each other.

"Hey! Watch where you're going, you klutz!" A female voice shouted at her, making Ruby tilt her head up in the direction of the voice. "Those cases are full of Dust! Do you know how much damage you could have caus-" The yelling girl stopped short as she neared the fallen girl and got a good look at her face, hood having slipped down. Closed eyes. Faint scars, like her own, but much worse, all over. While the white-haired girl was stunned, Ruby got up and dusted herself off before attending to the cases she knocked off, gently placing them back on the cart.

"I'm sorry, miss. I wasn't looking where I was going, I suppose." Ruby's voice had a hint of humor in it, and broke the other girl out of her stupor. Flustered, and unsure of how to react, the girl responded mostly out of habit.

"W-Well, make sure it doesn't happen again, you dolt!" And with that, she stormed off, some men taking the cart and following the moody girl.

"Jeez...I said I was sorry. What a princess," Ruby muttered, senses acute and aware to make sure something like that doesn't happen again. Years! Years of this, but she's still so clumsy some times...

"Heiress, actually. Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company," a voice from behind said, though Ruby was aware of her walking by. But, before the short girl could start up a conversation with the new stranger, the other girl kept walking and just blew past her. Seemed kind of rude, really.

"Is everyone here going to just snub me? Is it because I'm younger than them or what?" Disgruntled, Ruby was about to move on and follow the rest of the students, but a voice called out and stopped her. Great, another interaction to deal with...

"Hey! You alright?" A male's voice. It seemed familiar...Ah, the guy who retched all over the airship.

"Oh, I'm fine. Thanks for asking..?"

"Jaune. Jaune Arc. I saw what happened and wanted to make sure you were alright," the newly introduced Jaune said, rubbing the back of his head. Ruby, antisocial as she was, just wanted to get the day over with. She was already exhausted, and she'd only been here for a few minutes!

"Ruby Rose. I think we should get going, yes?" As she finished speaking, a voice over the loudspeakers called the new students to report in. "See? Come on, let's go." Without waiting for a respond, the girl in red walked towards the school building, following the sounds of other students. She also heard Jaune run to catch up to her before settling in with her pace. Though she was used to silence, she could tell the boy was uncomfortable with it and was trying to find something to say. Sighing mentally, she decided to throw him a bone. "So...what kind of weapon do you use?"

Jaune blinked a couple times, not really prepared for that kind of question, but responded by drawing his sword and expanding the sheath into a shield. "Er, a sword. And a shield! How about you? I don't see anything on you."

Idly, she noted that he didn't say anything about his weapons having any ranged capabilities. Perhaps a love for the old classics? Regardless, she took Crescent Rose off of her back and released it, scythe form gliding out smoothly and startling Jaune. "A scythe that's also a high-impact sniper rifle. I...kind of went overboard when designing it, I guess."

"Wait, you designed that thing?" Ruby was a tad surprised at his own surprise.

"All students at Signal designed their own weapons. Didn't you?"

Hesitation. "Well...I didn't go to that kind of school. This is a hand-me-down from my grandfather, who fought in the war." And with that, another slightly uncomfortable silence fell between them. But their little chat passed enough time, and soon they were in a large room along with all the other first year students. Hearing her loud, blonde sibling in the crowd, Ruby excused herself politely from Jaune to go stand with her sister.

"Aw man, now where am I going to find a quirky girl to talk to?" Ruby's ears caught his voice over the din of the other students, and she couldn't decide how to react to those words. So, with a slight blush, the hooded girl sidled up to her older sister and waited, wordlessly, for someone to speak.

By the time Yang realized her sister was next to her, it was too late. Professor Ozpin came up to the stage in front of the students, clearing his voice in the microphone to catch everyone's attention and silence them.

"I'll keep this brief," he started, after all the students quieted down. "You've traveled here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you're finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

After finishing his speech, he stepped away and allowed Glynda to take the microphone. "You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You're dismissed." And with that the students began to talk among themselves once more.

"He seemed...off," Yang said to Ruby.

She agreed. "It was almost like he wasn't even there."

* * *

"It's like a big slumber party!" Yang dropped down on her bedding, next to Ruby, as her eyes scanned the people around them.

"I doubt Dad would approve of all the boys," was the younger girl's response. They, along with everyone else, were dressed in their pajamas. Ruby's grimm-eyed sleep mask was drawn over her eyes, hiding them along with the scars, since she didn't have a hood to hide behind. It drew a few strange looks from the people around them, since she was still awake and functioning normally, but overall nothing came from it.

"I know I do," the elder replied, growling playfully and looking over said boys. Then, taking on a slightly more serious tone, Yang asked Ruby a question. "Did you at least try to make friends today, sis?"

Ruby couldn't help the sigh that escaped her lips at the familiar question. "There was an attempt," was the succinct answer given. Yang returned the sigh at that answer, poking her sister in the side and making her flinch.

"C'mon Ruby, you can't just stay in your own little bubble the whole time..."

"I talked to people. Like, two people! Jaune seemed like an okay guy. Does that make you feel better?" As she spoke about him, Jaune walked past the duo, waving a bit and making Yang cringe slightly at his choice of pajamas.

"Okay, okay. I just worry about you, you know?" Yang and Ruby's attentions were drawn to a nearby wall as the sound of something lighting caught their ears. A girl with black hair and a bow was reading by candlelight off to the side, and Yang saw an opportunity. Without saying anything, the elder sister took Ruby's arm and dragged her over to the girl, intruding upon her reading time.

The stranger looked up after hearing the struggling Ruby fight against her older sister's grip. "..aren't you the girl that tripped over the Schnee's luggage?"

Yang looked at Ruby questioningly and the younger girl just hung her head, recognizing that voice from earlier. "Y-Yeah. That's me. My name's Ruby, and this is my sister Yang." Awkwardly, she held her hand out for a moment, before quickly retracting, not even giving the girl a chance to respond to it.

Yang just looked at her sister, exasperated. "What are you doing?" She whispered, loudly. Ruby just turned her head and grimaced, translating to something like 'I don't know, help me!' "What's your name?" The blonde asked to the girl who had gone back to her reading.

"...Blake," she said, looking up from her book rather annoyed.

"Nice night, right?" Yang said, doggedly trying to keep a conversation going. The two sisters looked just as awkward as the situation felt.

"Yes, it's..lovely. Almost as lovely as this book. Which I'm going to continue to read. As soon as you leave."

Yang complained about the girl being a lost cause, but Ruby took a step closer, curious. "What's it about? The book, I mean."

A bit surprised, Blake slowly responded. "It's about a man with two souls, fighting for control over his body."

Ruby smiled, a bit wistfully. "I love books. Yang used to read to me all the time, and I just kept looking for books whenever I could. Though, the books I read now are a bit different than before...They're part of the reason I want to become a huntress, the stories of heroes and such."

Blake's curiosity was piqued at this point. "Why? You hope to live happily ever after or something?"

"I hope we all do," was the response. "And I know the real world isn't like a fairy tail, or whatever your response would be. But that's why we're here, right?" Blake was a bit caught off guard by Ruby's words, and reading her response so easily.

The mood was quickly broken though, as Yang came in and squeezed Ruby against her. "Oh, I'm so proud of my baby sister!" But the hug was quickly broken off, though the blonde clearly wanted to do much more to show her approval. This made Blake raise a brow, but any questioning was cut off by another girl entering the scene.

"What in the world is going on over here? Don't you realize some of us are trying to sleep?" She hissed, causing Yang to prepare a loud retort. However, her younger sister stopped her before a shouting match could happen.

"Yang, she's right. And we should be trying to sleep too, we have something important to do tomorrow." The eldest sister pouted and puffed out her cheeks, making Weiss question if she was actually the younger one despite her stature. Sighing, Blake decided to just blow out her candles and force everyone off to bed.

After all, tomorrow would be a very busy day. And a very eventful one, not that any of them knew that yet.


	2. Chapter 2

I uploaded this a bit earlier than expected. My muse just wouldn't stop bothering me, especially with that sub-par chapter earlier.

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY. I'm also not the best writer, so expect mistakes and expect to find something off with my writing.

* * *

The next day found Ruby and Yang in the locker room, preparing for the initiation that would be happening in just a short while. However, the large room full of metal lockers left Ruby in a bit of a sour mood as the sisters prepared themselves. Not only did Yang have to guide her to her locker, since there was no discerning difference to the younger girl's senses, but she had difficulty navigating the room anyway thanks to the strange, hollow echoing that every sound made.

"C'mon Ruby, you should cheer up a little. I thought you'd be more chipper today, since it's all about showing what you're made of!" The blonde tried to be positive, but she couldn't help but feel down herself at this. Another thing Ruby can't do on her own because of that stupid mistake...

Ruby knew her sister meant well, but that only seemed to make her mood worse as she made sure Crescent Rose was secured on her person. Not feeling very talkative this morning, the red clad girl silently awaited for the announcement of the initiation, leaving Yang feeling awkward and not knowing what to do with herself. In the silence, though, the younger sister could hear the conversation going on further down the line.

"It seems Jaune doesn't know how to interact with normal girls," Ruby finally said, quietly, so only Yang could hear her. _Just defective ones like me_ was left unsaid, but the older girl winced as if the words were said anyway.

Over the loudspeaker, a rather bland, robotic voice rang out, catching everyone's attention. "Will all first year students please report to Beacon Cliffs for initiation. Again, all first year students report to Beacon Cliffs immediately." Weiss and a redhead, Pyrrha was apparently her name, left Jaune and the sisters in the locker room, the blonde boy sinking to the floor and sighing in dejection. The two girls made their way over to him, Yang subtly guiding Ruby around the metal structures that impeded her senses.

"Girl troubles, Jaune?" Both blondes looked at Ruby with a bit of surprise, Yang not expecting her sister to joke around in her current mood, and Jaune just not realizing the two were there. The scythe user extended her hand in the general direction of the boy, and he accepted it gratefully, allowing the small girl to help him off the floor.

"Ah, eheh...something like that. I guess we should get going to the cliffs?" Jaune brushed himself off and nodded along with Yang, the trio making their way out of the room and towards the cliff. Though she wouldn't say it, Ruby was relieved to be out of that room. After so much acclimation, there wasn't a whole lot that made her uncomfortable with her disability. Because of that, she felt so frustrated and useless whenever her sister or their father had to help her out. Though, she supposed it was a bit better than being left alone to deal with it herself, which was Qrow's preferred method of helping her cope, apparently.

* * *

"For years, you have trained to become warriors. And, today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." Professor Ozpin, standing before them near the edge of the cliffs, greeted them with a no-nonsense type of attitude.

Glynda spoke up next. "Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates...today." A few murmurs rose up from the first years, and Yang couldn't help but glance over at her sister with a bit of worry.

"These teammates," Ozpin took up the role of speaking once more, "will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to pair with someone with whom you can work well. That being said, the first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years." The wording of that made Yang, and to a lesser extent, Ruby, slightly uncomfortable. And, though the younger sibling was fine with just letting it be, the blonde sister couldn't help but speak up.

"Err, eye contact? Is that really," a furtive glance over at Ruby, "going to be alright?"

Ruby could hear the smirk in his voice, even if none of the other students could see it. "Of course. It's always been Beacon tradition that the first person you see will be your partner. After you've partnered up, head to to northern part of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die." This statement lead to a few gulps of fear, notably from Jaune. "You will be monitored and graded throughout this, however the instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path, containing relics. Each pair will take a relic and guard it, along with your standing, while you make your way back. Are there any questions?"

Jaune was summarily ignored by Ozpin as the headmaster commanded them to take their positions. The rest of the students were prepared, though, and settled into position on the launch pads, awaiting their turn. Ruby listened as her classmates were flung into the air, trying to ignore the heated, worried stare that she could feel from her sister. No matter how many times she proved herself in combat, Yang just couldn't be content in trusting her by herself.

And then, she was flung out into the air. She didn't quite expect it to be as disorienting as it was, but she made due. The girl took out her scythe and quickly fired some shots downward to slow her momentum and allow her to attempt to figure out her surroundings. She was given no time to adapt, though, as she quickly found herself buffeted by branches and twigs as she fell through the canopy of the forest. Irate at the lack of useful senses, the small girl held her scythe above her firmly.

Luck seemed to be on her side, as her momentum was suddenly jolted and changed, her scythe lodging into a thick tree branch and making her spin up above it. Thinking quickly, she dislodged her weapon and attempted to position herself so she would land on the same branch. Which, thankfully, she did, though it was sloppy and she almost slipped down anyway. Ruby just stood there and caught her breath, calming herself from that uncomfortable journey and trying to get a sense of her surroundings.

Trees. Life. Aura.

Aura was present in all living things, except the creatures of Grimm. Ruby realized this for herself about a year after the accident that left her blind. She could feel her sister's blazing aura, their father's calmer aura, and uncle Qrow's grizzled one. And then, as she grew more accustomed to it, she found herself noticing Zwei, the family dog, had an aura too. And the birds in the trees, and even the trees themselves! She was astounded, as a young girl, to have found the beauty that is aura.

But she soon became jaded to it, learning to use it as a tool simply to get by. By sensing the aura of everything around her, she had a decent mental understanding of where everything and every one was in correlation to herself. However, this skill was almost useless in empty, man-made places. She could rely only on her advanced hearing and touch to guide her in those situations. But, with the advent of touch technology and it's widespread use, even touch was worthless in many scenarios.

Regardless, Ruby secured her mental image of the forest around her, taking note of a presence nearby. She couldn't quite pinpoint who it was, so it definitely wasn't Yang. Someone she met yesterday? Taking a calming breath, the girl took a leap in the direction of the person, her feet finding purchase on another branch. It wasn't perfect, but there was plenty of aura from the trees for her to find her way through the branches of the treeline and make her way to whomever she had found.

* * *

Weiss wasn't really sure what she did to deserve this, as she prepared herself against the horde of Beowolves that were circling her. An Alpha, roaring in the creepy manner that Beowolves seem to do, was leading the pack. The heiress had quite literally landed right in the middle of them, only having a few seconds to realize her position before becoming surrounded. Gritting her teeth, the Schnee readied her rapier and prepared to defend herself until she could escape.

However, before the first strike could even be though of, a red and black blur flew down from the treeline. Faster than she could comprehend, Weiss found an entire swath of Beowolves decapitated and a familiar figure crouched next to her, rose petals following the path from the trees that the girl had taken. Scythe glaring with the afternoon sun, Weiss couldn't help but feel a bit awed by Ruby's entrance and performance, easily killing at least five of those Grimm with a single movement. She was quickly broken out of her surprise though, as the circle of Beowolves closed in on them, tightening the perimeter to fill the gap left by Ruby's entrance.

"We need to take out the Alpha first." Ruby stood, brandishing her scythe at the monsters in a menacing way. "I need you to do something flashy to distract as many of them as possible, if you can." No nonsense, serious. This didn't seem like the clumsy girl from yesterday at all to Weiss. Taking a breath, the white-haired girl changed the revolver portion of her weapon to an ice Dust crystal.

"Fine. I think I can manage that," she said haughtily, regaining her snobbish attitude. And, with an affirmative from Ruby, Weiss rushed forward, Myrtenaster at the ready. With a quick stab at the ground, a burst of ice exploded out and cut up a few of the Beowolves, others being intelligent enough to jump back out of the way. The commotion drew the attention of the others, and the Grimm attempted to rush Weiss. She was already on the move, though, flipping backwards and using glyphs to extend her jump well over the Beowolves' heads.

Glancing over to see how her...partner was doing, Weiss was a bit shocked to see the red girl in the middle of executing the Alpha, looking no worse for wear as the high-impact sniper shot allowed the blade of the scythe to swiftly decapitate the large Beowolf. As the leader of the pack fell, the remaining Beowolves howled and charged at the two girls, no longer in any sort of formation. This made them much easier to deal with, and Weiss couldn't help but admire the other girl for the quick planning.

The red and white girls slashed and dashed their way through the Beowolves, mutually deciding that taking out every single one was not a good idea. Ruby, scythe blazing through Grimm flesh like butter, flipped her way around the battlefield, wide swings of her scythe almost always catching at least one Beowolf on it's blade. Weiss, however, was much more refined. Her rapier was swift and powerful, stabbing weak points on the monsters and using Dust to clear out groups of them as well was make a path for them to escape with. Soon, there was enough of them cut down for Ruby and Weiss to use their semblances to get out of dodge, leaving the remaining Beowolves behind with their massacred pack.

The girls two kept running until Weiss had to stop and catch her breath, the heiress leaning up against a tree and gasping for air while Ruby kept her focus down the hill, making sure no Grimm were after them. The scythe user wasn't even breathing hard, looking only a bit ruffled after all that. Even the hood hiding her feature was still perfectly framing her face, not having fell down or even budged an inch. It kind of annoyed Weiss, seeing the younger girl looking so perfect while she, a Schnee, was left to catch her breath and recover. However, while studying Ruby, she noticed that the girl had slightly different posture than before, and there was a bit of extra red to her outfit.

"Wait, are you bleeding? We should take care of that instead of just standing here!" Weiss was immediately waved off by the other girl, who finally turned around to face her.

"I'm fine, I've," a short hesitation, "had worse. It's just a scratch, and I'm used to getting those all the time." Those words had the girl in white grimace slightly, suddenly remembering the scarred face that was hidden under that red hood. They fell into an awkward silence, the girls unsure of how to act around each other. Weiss knew that her usual behavior wouldn't get her far here, the younger girl was just constantly breaking her walls without even realizing it. It was frustrating the girl in white, but she couldn't find it in her to actually be upset with Ruby.

"Oh." A blink, and a sigh. "Thank you for helping me back there, by the way. I suppose we're partners now, right?" Straightening up, Weiss addressed the girl in red more formally.

The response wasn't exactly what she was expecting, and broke down her facade once more. "I mean, we can't really make eye contact, so I guess you're free to look for another partner if you aren't satisfied." It took a few moments for Weiss to even react to that, let alone recover from it. The lack of emotion in such a joking statement made the white-haired girl flinch. Even she could put more emotion into a joke like that!

"Ah, no, I'm fine with you being my partner. You...definitely proved yourself back there." Well, that, and her grade would probably plummet if she denied the blind girl a partnership. Ozpin's words were a trap, weren't they? "Anyway, we should head to the temple and get our relic now. I think it's...err..." Weiss stopped, realizing she had no idea where they were or where the temple was.

Ruby, however, pointed to Weiss' left. "The temple should be over there. I heard some loud voices headed back from that direction, complaining about the initiation being too easy." Her words were followed by a small smirk, so small the girl in white almost missed it. She would never admit it to anyone, but seeing that small expression of emotion relieved Weiss. It...suited the younger girl.

Snapping out of her thoughts, Weiss nodded. "Alright. Let's head over there, then. Hopefully we won't get caught up with any more Grimm."

* * *

Despite Weiss' words usually foreshadowing more danger, the red and white duo made it to the temple unmolested. As they broke through the treeline, they found themselves being waved over by an overexcited Yang, Blake also standing by. "Hey! Ruby, you made it!" Weiss and Ruby made their way over to the black and yellow pair, and Yang immediately set upon her little sister, making sure the younger girl was alright. "Eh? You're bleeding, sis. Ran into some trouble?"

Everyone's attention was brought to the wound on Ruby's lower thigh, a slash in her leggings and blood running down her right leg. The injured girl just scoffed and waved off her sister. "This is nothing, Yang. Weiss and I got caught up in a Beowolf pack and I got a scratch, it's whatever." Yang still wasn't completely assured, but backed off of her sister anyway. She knew better than to spend too much time bothering her.

"Alright, alright, if you say s-" Yang was interrupted by a large crash and a gleeful shout, everyone's attention being drawn to an orange-haired girl jumping off the back of an Ursa. Yang, Blake, and Weiss were staring at her in amazement as a boy in green came out next to her, panting and catching his breath.

"Nora," he said between breaths, "never do that again." Nora, however, was already gone, picking up a Rook from the relics and dancing around. "Nora!"

"Ehe, sorry Ren!" She didn't sound apologetic at all, and Ren just sighed, used to the behavior. Before anyone could do anything else, a familiar voice came closing in, and everyone watched in awe as Jaune flew over them and into the trees. Their awe was quickly broken, as Pyrrha came running through from the same direction Jaune came from, a Death Stalker bursting out of the treeline after her.

"Oh come on!" Yang exclaimed, too much happening at once for her to handle. Ruby hated to be the one to make her sister more angry, but a quiet noise that probably only she could hear made her tug on her older sibling's clothes and point up. Circling above the group of students was a giant Nevermore, high in the sky and waiting to attack.

Ignoring the following outbursts, Ruby drew Weiss' attention. "We need to stop the thing chasing Pyrrha, if only for a moment. And then we need to get everyone and run. Alright?" The white-haired girl was a bit hesitant at facing off against the large Grimm, but was left with no choice. Nodding an affirmative, the duo rushed off to help the red-haired girl running from the giant, scorpion-like monster. Ruby drew and unfolded her scythe, jumping in the air and firing behind her to gain more momentum as she twirled and slammed her scythe into the Death Stalker's hard shell, catching it's attention. This allowed Pyrrha to run over to the rest of the group, Jaune following her after he got down from the tree.

Now focused on the red clad girl attacking it, the monster roared and tried to stab her with the golden stinger. However, Ruby was too agile for that, and dodged swiftly out of the way, leaving the stinger to impale the ground. Seeing her change, Weiss stepped in. "Ha!" With a shout, the heiress struck at the stuck stinger with ice Dust, freezing the stinger in place even more and trapping the Death Stalker for a while. As soon as she had finished, however, she felt herself being picked up and an overwhelming sense of vertigo followed. An instant later, she found herself in the arms of Ruby, back at the temple with the others. Flustered, the red-cheeked Weiss struggled and got away from her partner, mouth open to yell at her.

"You're welcome," Ruby interrupted, pointing at the area from which they just came from. Looking over in confusion, Weiss was shocked to see giant, black feathers impaled all around the Death Stalker, aimed at the spot the two girls were at. Gulping, the girl in white's embarrassment was replaced with thankfulness, though she didn't say anything. Addressing the rest of the group, Ruby spoke up once more. "Grab your relics and let's get going, guys. We don't need to fight these things, we just need to get back to Beacon Cliffs."

Glancing around at each other and nodding, the ones without a relic grabbed their chess pieces. Jaune and Pyrrha getting a white Rook, Ruby and Weiss obtaining a white Knight. As soon as that was finished, the group of eight rushed off, Yang and Blake in the back as the elder sister stared at her younger sibling. Noticing this, Blake couldn't help but ask. "Something the matter?"

Shaking her head, Yang kept on running with the group. "I'm just a bit happy, that's all." Accepting this, Blake sped up as the group neared a canyon with ruins above it. The Nevermore was flying above them, and that fact made them keep running. However, as soon as they broke out from the forest and headed for the first bridge, the were alerted to falling trees and a roar as the forgotten Death Stalker broke out after them.

"Tch. Nora! Distract the Nevermore!" Ren called out, turning around along with Pyrrha to shoot at the Death Stalker and draw it's attention to solely them. Nora gleefully agreed and took out her weapon, firing explosive shots at the giant Grimm before having to dodge out of the way of a slew of dangerous feathers. They regrouped as the Nevermore had to circle around, and the students started to run across the bridge. However, the Nevermore was intelligent, and as it circled around, it crashed into the bridge to separate the group. Ren, Pyrrha, and Blake were on the side of the bridge near the forest, while everyone else was on the other side, over the canyon.

Seeing the Death Stalker closing in, Jaune immediately called for action. "They need help!" Looking down, however, made him cringe. "I can't make that jump though." Nora, on the other hand, just giggled and extended her weapon out into full hammer mode, jumping and slamming the piece of bridge the two were on, leaving Ruby, Weiss, and Yang alone as Nora burst over and slammed down on the Death Stalker. Her landing wasn't the greatest, slamming into Blake and sending her over the edge. Thinking quickly, the ribbon wearing girl took her weapon and threw it, one end lodging into a part of the structure and allowing her to swing up onto the Nevermore. Taking this chance, she ran down it's length, slashing at it ineffectively.

Jumping off and landing with the sisters and Weiss, she let out a frustrated huff. "That thing's tougher than it looks."

Yang pumped a fist, a grin on her face. "We'll just have to hit it with everything we got, then!" The group of four nodded together, and Yang ran off to distract it while Ruby gained the other two's attention.

"I have a plan."

With the other group of four, Ren had jumped up on the Death Stalker's tail and started to shoot at where the stinger was attached, attempting to cut it off. The monster was having none of it, though, and shook him off, sending the boy flying into a ruin where he painfully crashed into a wall. The rest of them kept attacking, Nora's huge hits distracting it as the others attempted to figure out how to defeat it. Pyrrha, changing her weapon into it's javelin form, threw it into one of the Death Stalker's eyes, making it roar out in pain. Jaune noticed the stinger was barely hanging onto the tail, and drew the redhead to this fact.

"Pyrrha, the stinger!" With an affirmative, the girl threw her shield at it, effectively cutting it off. The heavy stinger fell on the monster's own head, impaling it slightly. "Nora!" Jaune called out, him and Pyrrha watching as the ginger girl slammed her hammer down upon the stinger, breaking the bridge and launching the other two over the Death Stalker. Pyrrha made sure to grab her weapon on the way over as the scorpion-like monster fell down with the bridge, into the canyon. The group sat, panting heavily, as they watched the large monster fall. Ren, coming over from the ruins, fell down with them, groaning. Left to recover, the four watched the others fight the Nevermore.

Yang jumped up into the Nevermore's path, using her strength to keep it's mouth open after trying to eat her. With her free hand, she punched down it's throat, sending bullets raining into the large bird's gullet. As the monster started to veer down, she hopped out of it's beak and back onto the structure which had been slightly destroyed from an earlier attack. As the Nevermore landed harshly against the cliff, Weiss rushed forward, another ice Dust crystal prepared. Jumping up, she used a glyph to get closer and stabbed the tip of the Nevermore's tail, ice encasing the rocks and feathers to trap it against the cliff wall. Hopping back with her glyphs, the heiress made it back with the others. Blake and Yang were using Blake's weapon to prepare a makeshift slingshot, Ruby jumping up on it and tensing the ribbon back.

Weiss arrived in time to use a glyph to hold Ruby in place and aim her. "You sure you can make this shot? I can't really adjust myself properly in this kind of situation."

Nodding, Weiss finished adjusting the angle of Ruby's launch. "Perfect shot. Whenever you're ready." Ruby nodded an affirmative, and Weiss let go of her glyph, the girl in red shooting off like a bullet towards the trapped Nevermore. Scythe out and blade posed to trap the giant bird's neck, Ruby landed hard against the cliff side, blade lodged into the tender throat of the Nevermore. Glyphs appeared on the side of the cliff, courtesy of Weiss, and allowed the girl in red to run up the cliff, shooting her rifle to gain momentum and drag the giant monster up with her, much to the amazement of everyone watching. Upon reaching the top of the cliff, the small girl let out a loud cry of exertion, shooting multiple time and using all of her strength. With the sound of slicing flesh, the giant scythe shot through the Nevermore's body, executing the monster. It's large carcass slowly fell down the canyon, the dragging of feathers the only noise in the area.

Everyone just stood quietly, the heat of battle drifting away from them as their enemies disappeared. After a few moments, Yang let out a loud cheer, quickly mirrored by Nora across the canyon.

* * *

Later, the group of eight found themselves cleaned up and awaiting their turn to have their names called for teams. Above them, on the stage, Ozpin had been calling out the new teams for the year one students. It was getting later into the night, and everyone would probably go to their newly assigned dorms after this.

"Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, and Lie Ren." The students walked up onto the stage, and stood at attention for Ozpin. "The four of you gathered the white Rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR, led by Jaune Arc. Congratulations, young man."

Jaune was shocked that he would be the leader of his team. He couldn't even speak, and the light blow to his shoulder from Pyrrha knocked him on his ass, making everyone in the crowd laugh.

After Team JNPR left the stage, Ozpin called up the last group of first years. "And finally, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long." The group came up and took their place in front of Ozpin. "The four of you gathered the white Knight pieces. From this day forward you will work as Team RWBY, led by," Weiss' breath hitched, waiting for her name to be called, "Ruby Rose." Weiss was shocked, and looked over at Ruby only to see that she was shocked as well.

"Oh I'm so proud of you!" Yang exclaimed, grabbing her sister in a hug. But Ruby didn't respond or even seem to notice, staring at Ozpin like he was insane.

 _Who the hell makes a little blind girl leader of a team?!_ Ruby's mind was bouncing ideas around, unable to believe what had happened. Unknown to her, Weiss was having similar, but more shallow, thoughts. She just couldn't believe that a blind girl, no matter how good she was, was made leader over a Schnee!

"It looks like things are shaping up to be...an interesting year." With those words, Ozpin dismissed the students and left them, leaving a stunned Team RWBY on the stage while the rest of the students trickled out.

 _Why am I the leader? Am I even cut out to lead a team, the way I am..?_


End file.
